Giclée Printmaking FAQ

Giclée refers to high-quality digital fine art prints used by artists, photographers, and galleries. Originally referring to the prints created by the now-obsolete IRIS printers in the early 1990s, the term comes from French meaning “to spray,” a reference to the process by which the ink is applied to the substrate. This technology allows artists and photographers to sell multiple high-quality reproductions of their original artwork without the steep setup charges associated with traditional offset printing. Individual prints are referred to as “giclée prints” or simply “giclées.”

Lithography and other modern offset printing technology requires a significant investment in setting up the run of a particular print. Plates need to be created that are specific to each offset printing job, which is time-consuming and expensive — so lithography is typically more appropriate for runs of several hundred or more identical prints. With giclées, an artist can have the printmaker create a single print at a time — essentially enabling “print on demand” fine art reproduction as the artist sells their prints. Of course, the more prints you order from Creekside Digital at once, the better pricing we can give you per print. Additionally, giclée printmaking gives the artist more control over the types of substrates upon which their reproductions are printed.

Creekside Digital uses the latest 12-color pigment ink technology from HP. The HP Vivera ink sets feature a dedicated cartridge for each of the following colors:

Light Gray

Gray

Photo Black

Matte Black

Light Magenta

Magenta

Light Cyan

Yellow

Green

Blue

Chromatic Red

A twelfth cartridge contains Gloss Enhancer, used for increased gloss uniformity and to minimize bronzing when printing on glossy photo papers. Note that up to five cartridges are used when reproducing black and white photography (four blacks plus Gloss Enhancer), allowing Creekside Digital to provide prints with superb dynamic range: truly neutral grays and rich, deep blacks.

Creekside Digital doesn’t use “OEM,” “reconditioned,” or other used / refilled ink cartridges. We only use genuine, factory-fresh HP ink, as that’s the only way we can guarantee the consistent quality of the prints we deliver to our customers.

Depending on the substrate used, HP Vivera pigment inks can resist fading for over 200 years.

Absolutely. We offer traditional canvas stretching (white sides) as well as gallery wrapping, where the image extends from the front of print and “wraps” around the stretcher bars, allowing frameless presentation of the stretched print.

On a recent trip to New Orleans’ French Quarter, we were dismayed to see so many unsealed giclées for sale in gallery windows with horrible cracked edges and corners, and the white substrate glaring through. Perhaps the drunk tourists didn’t notice, but we did!

We require that all canvas prints we deliver are sealed with a transparent, UV-resistant laminate in order to allow them to be stretched without cracking. The ink layer on giclée prints is quite thin and fragile, and when it cracks or rubs off, the bright white canvas underneath is exposed. The corners and edges are especially vulnerable. Smaller jobs are typically rolled on (as in the picture above); we will apply the laminate with a spray gun for large pieces and runs of multiple prints.

Sealer is available in gloss, satin, and matte finishes. We use sealers from Breathing Color and ClearStar.

Yes. Creekside Digital has a full-service custom framing shop. We offer everything from affordable ready-mades to dry mounting and museum-grade conservation framing, and everything in between. Please contact us for details.

We’ve found that the technology used for giclée printmaking produces extraordinary reproductions of historical documents such as newspapers and manuscripts, and of course larger cultural heritage items such as maps, atlases, and panoramic photographs. Many of our customers are libraries and archives who have vast digital collections. We assist them with displaying reproductions in situations where it’s preferable to do so in lieu of an irreplaceable original artifact. Also, we can help them to generate revenue for their institution by selling high-quality print reproductions of items in their collections.